Power
by Rex Madison
Summary: Athena is captured by an old enemy that holds a grudge - and she doesn't have her usual bag of tricks this time. Can she escape? Can she prevail? Can she even survive...? (FOLLOWUP to The Deal, which is further up this list; read it first. Rated R, for sure.)
1. Arrival

Notes

*sigh*

I did _not_ want my next story to be _another_ Athena fic. ...but, as those of you who know me know, I recently had an epiphany.

You see, in most of her media appearances, Athena is stupidly powerful. She can read minds; she can _control_ them. She can merge with peoples' psyches, beam words and images into them from miles away. And she can put on a light show - a _destructive_ light show - the likes of which you've never seen.

Now here's the catch: that media does _not_ include the games.

Seriously. Go look it up; I know I did. The fact is, a lot of Athena's "staple" psychic powers are crap. They're given to her by _unofficial_ sources, from fanfiction to officially-endorsed _but non-canon_ manga. In the mainline games themselves - including backstories, cutscenes, endings and winquotes - Athena has what's been shown in battle and that's it. (Well, she can also sense evil and read peoples' auras. Umm...great?)

I am a _terminal_ Athena fanboy, so this discovery rocked my world. I literally almost stopped writing KOF. Then I thought of a better way to cope: write a new story about Athena. The _real_ Athena, with her actual, pitiful skillset.

This is that story. And it ain't gonna be pretty.

* * *

Chapter 1 - Arrival

It started like a perfectly normal day...for Athena Asamiya, that is.

She woke up at the crack of dawn, eager as ever to get a jump on the day. She did her morning _katas_ ; she had her morning tea. She drove up to her label's headquarters, talked with them about schedules and deadlines. She drove down to her agent's office, talked with him about appearances and endorsements. She had a light lunch at her favorite cafe, wearing her tenth new disguise there in a row (of course the staff could see right through them by now). Then she moved on to the studio, chatting and laughing with her bandmates before recording some hooks for the new album.

It was when Athena left the studio that things started to go downhill.

From there she started driving to her team's practice space, looking to squeeze in an hour or two of training before dinner. She saw the first sign of trouble about halfway there, when she noticed a black car that seemed to be following her. She tried to get a good look at it, but couldn't; she tried to sense its riders' intent, but if they were evil she couldn't feel it. The car turned onto a side road a couple of streets before she did, relieving her considerably - but not completely.

She arrived at the space and went to the very back, opening the door to a large, mostly empty gym. She received a warm welcome from Sie Kensou, much more than her partner these days; she gave him a quick kiss before they began. Usually, they worked with Master Chin during training - but sometimes he had engagements of his own, leaving his students to their own devices. Practice was naturally more laid back on those days...but this time, at least, they managed to work up a sweat over the first half-hour. (Not in the way Kensou would have liked, of course.)

She found the second sign of trouble when they headed to the sidelines for a break - and she felt the evil she'd been looking for.

 _What in the world...?_ Athena looked all around herself quickly. She saw nothing but the massive, windowless gym, the sparse workout equipment scattered along the outside edges. Frowning, she crossed to the door leading out into the hall, ignoring Kensou's curious grunt as she opened it up. No, nothing seemed to be happening out _there_ , either...

"Whassamatta, 'un?" Sie asked through a mouthful of meat bun.

"...it's nothing," Athena answered, shaking her head. Her 'radar' for evil must've been playing tricks on her again; it never had been as reliable as she would've liked. She felt another twinge as she went back to the sidelines - and ignored it, sitting on the bench and taking a long, cool drink of water.

She really should've made the connection.

The third sign of trouble came pretty quick after that - and it was a big one. Moments after they resumed training, Athena suddenly felt sluggish; Kensou noticed it right before he started feeling it too. "Athena? Wha...wha's happening...?" he said cleverly.

"I...don't know," Athena groaned, holding her head as she shook it. She looked around again, as much as she could - and her eyes widened as she saw it. Her bottle of water was laying on its side, back on the bench...and dripping rapidly from a pinhole leak near the top.

"...the water...!" she gasped, as Sie followed her gaze. _Somebody drugged it...!_

It was just about the last coherent thought she had. Within seconds, she dropped to one knee, the world in front of her filling with fog. She managed to see Kensou shambling towards her, trying to support her - and then he stumbled and fell, and that was enough to put him out.

Athena outlasted him for just a few seconds longer, cursing her foolishness - and her weakness. This was an attack on her _mind_ , damnit! Shouldn't she have some sort of defense against this⁇ What kind of psychic was she...?

Then she too fell to the floor, her vision clearing for a split second. In that time, she finally saw somebody else in the room, the first of several dark-suited men entering from the hallway. At first the man seemed like any other mysterious villain...but then she got a good look at his face.

 _...oh god, no._

* * *

Many years ago, a fourteen-year-old Athena discreetly exited a nightclub, using the secret door to the parking lot reserved for performers and staff. It was a seedy bar in a seedy area with seedy clientele...but Athena wasn't thinking about any of that. She was thinking about tonight's show, and how every person in the room had seemed to light up for her last song - even the seediest ones. _I'm getting pretty good at this!_ she mused, giggling to herself.

It was a good thing, too. It had been nine months, now, since her psychic powers had manifested...and eight months since her parents had abandoned her for it, leaving her only a credit card. She had sponged off of them for two months before leaving them in turn, finding a new apartment and a job of her own to pay for it. Hiroshi's paid its singers well, but not enough for her to build up any savings; the more she wowed the crowd, the better chance she had of keeping the gig - and keeping a roof over her head next month.

It didn't bother Athena, though. She _liked_ singing. She liked making it on her own. And she liked that her psychic powers had become a blessing instead of a curse. It didn't matter if she lived in one of the city's worst areas; with her power, she knew she could take care of herself.

But arrogance breeds complacency.

She'd just headed into a back alley, still grinning, when her entire life changed. The second she passed him, a man she'd missed lurking in the shadows sprang up from behind her, grabbing her. In an instant, he'd looped one hand around her waist - and pressed a knife to her throat with the other.

"Quiet," he growled, before she got out more than a squeaky gasp. "You wanna live, you shut up and come with me."

Horrified, Athena did as she was told, letting the man drag her with him and trying not to scream, to speak, to breathe. Her heartrate soaring, her thoughts raced almost as fast, shifting from _what_ to _why_...to _how_. How had she not noticed this man!? She'd passed him without sensing him at all - even with an extra sense‼ So she could take care of herself, could she⁇ Well she was doing a bang-up job so far...!

But then, as she saw the man was dragging her back to his car, fear turned to anger. He may have caught her like any other teenage girl - but she wasn't one. She was a _psychic_ , damnit...and it was time to prove it.

Without warning, the knife removed itself from Athena's throat. It was _yanked_ from it, in fact - and then it just _stopped_ , floating about a foot from her throat and two feet from the man's face. Dumbstruck, the man stopped moving and just _looked_ at it, his face going pale.

So he got a really good view of it when it turned around in midair - and stabbed into his eye.

" _Aaauuuggghhh‼!_ " The man crumpled to the pavement, reflexively clutching at his eye but smart enough to not remove the blade. Blood flowed out of the wound quickly, oozing through his fingers and forming a puddle on the ground below. " _What the fuck!? You bitch‼ You're fucking dead...!_ "

Athena looked down at him trembling, switching back to fear in an instant. She had _not_ meant to do that; she had aimed the weapon at his cheek. Of course, this was a _much_ better deterrent, and she felt no remorse at all about using it on her would-be kidnapper. But it was still her biggest taste yet of just how deadly her power could be...and it frightened her.

And then the fear turned into stark terror, as she got a better look at the man's face.

 _...yakuza...!_

The word burned through her brain like a hot-iron brand, melting the world around her. The _yakuza_ , Japan's Mafia, had extraordinary influence at the time - especially in her part of town. Members tended to show up often at any remotely private nightclubs, including Hiroshi's. And Athena had just stabbed one of them, one of her _regulars_ , in the eye.

 _...oh god. OhgodohgodohgodohgodohGOD._ Panting for breath, she took a quick look at his pinky, confirming what she already knew. Then she looked back at his face, which was now looking up at hers. His one good eye glared a dagger at her; his mouth had twisted into a hateful, _evil_ snarl.

She knew she should kill him. She was probably screwed already; letting him live would be like signing her own death warrant. ...but she couldn't do it. She was no cold-blooded murderer, not even in the name of self-defense. She wasn't even a _warrior_ , yet. Right now Athena was just a scared little girl, in _way_ over her head with no idea how to get out.

And so she ran. She ran from the man, all the way back to her apartment. She ran from the apartment, leaving all but her most precious things behind. She ran to Master Chin's side, the moment he said she had potential (thank _god_ she'd found him so fast). And when he asked her to be his pupil, she ran all the way to China, never once stopping to look back.

* * *

She still remembered it years later, when she came back to Japan for King of Fighters. But the _yakuza_ seemed to have forgotten, leaving her alone even before she became high-profile. Over the years, Athena forgot it as well, shelving the incident in her mind with the rest of that horrible year. Even as her fame grew, so too did her skill and power; she never once considered bodyguards - and in time, she stopped keeping her _own_ guard up.

But one man hadn't forgotten.

Now, as she looked up from the ground with that split-second of clear vision, she saw him. She saw the same build, covered in the same tacky teal suit. She saw the same hair, slicked up in the same _stupid_ spiked hairdo. She saw the same face, the same snarl still etched upon it. The only thing different was the eyepatch...a deep, crimson circle that seemed to stare into her soul.

 _I'm fucking dead,_ she thought, as her world faded to black.

* * *

End Notes

Yeah. M-rated for a reason.

It ain't getting any better, either. This story is _not_ for the faint of heart. Some awful things are gonna happen here - but it'll come out okay in the end. (C'mon, it's still _me_ here.) I've never liked trigger warnings, because they spoil the plot...but if you _ever_ need trigger warnings, you're gonna want them for this. So here's my compromise: if you're nervous, go to a Base64 decoding website - base64decode. org works - and translate these codes: QXR0ZW1wdGVkIFJhcGU= and VG9ydHVyZQ== .

My preferred pattern is weekly installments of stories that are already written - but not this time. This one gets updated whenever new chapters are ready...and they're gonna be ready fast. I've already planned out the entire plot; I will be _shocked_ if this fic isn't done in a week.

See you soon...


	2. Capture

Notes

...is it bad when you _know_ the story's gonna be dark going in, and then you write it and it ends up being _so much darker_?

You're about to see a new side of Rex Madison, folks. Buckle up...

* * *

Chapter 2 - Capture

"...ir! Sir! Mr. Sie? Mr. Sie, sir!"

Kensou rolled over and _groaned_ , his head thick as molasses. He wrenched open his eyes to find several staff members surrounding him, supporting his head and trying to shake him awake.

"...what happened...?"

"We're not sure, sir. We just found you like this," the one in front of him told him. "Did you pass out? Were you dehydrated?" She opened a bottle of water, started moving it to his lips.

"I...don't know," he replied, letting her. He laid back against the one supporting him, trying to remember...

...and then he did.

" _No‼_ " he shouted, sitting bolt upright and batting the water away.

"Mr. Sie!?"

"It's drugged. The water for this room has been _drugged_."

"What⁇ ...when!?"

"How should I know!?" Kensou snapped, his eyes wide. "It could've been hours ago!" He looked around frantically, struggling to stand and failing. "Athena. Where's Athena⁇"

"Please calm down, sir!" the woman urged him. "We only found you here! ...she did leave her cell phone, though...I think?" She pointed to the ground a few feet away.

Kensou turned to find a small, black flip phone there, most definitely _not_ Athena's. He reached over unsteadily and grabbed it, opening it up. The screen went straight to the Contacts page, which had one entry: "Call This Number". He tried to edit it to see the number itself, but a password prompt blocked his way.

Shaking, he followed instructions, his finger barely able to hit the dial button. He raised the phone to his ear; he heard three painfully long rings. And then:

'We have the girl.'

* * *

"We have the girl."

She heard the words faintly, through an ocean of foam and fluff. Her head lolled to the side, her eyes still closed. But her attendant didn't let up, shaking her roughly and slapping his hand against her cheek. With a grunt of protest, she forced her eyes open...and then they widened into saucers.

Athena found herself in a small, dark room, seated behind a large plastic table that dominated the space. ...she was _secured_ behind it, actually, her hands handcuffed behind her chair and her legs duct-taped to its own. She gave some experimental tugs, but immediately knew she wouldn't break them.

At least her pink button-down and black slacks remained untouched. _Thank god for that._

The rest of the room was crowded with five black-suited men, none of whom she recognized. The first stood at the front with a cell phone, his back turned to her; the one that had slapped her awake stood at her side, no longer looking at her. The other three sat at the sides of the table, staring at the phone man or nothing at all.

"Where am I?" she demanded, turning to her attendant. "What do you want? Why are you doing this⁇" Of course, "why _now_ " would've been the better question...but he wasn't talking anyway. He just kept staring straight ahead, his job done.

Meanwhile the man on the phone had kept the conversation moving. "You don't need to know who this is. ...we want ¥100,000,000 as ransom. Deliver it to Kyocera's old storage building at midnight tomorrow. Come alone or she dies. ...you'll just have to find a way. ...yes. ...yes, she's here in this room." Then he turned to Athena, holding the phone in her direction. "Tell him."

But she didn't. Athena stoically kept her mouth shut, knowing that talking wouldn't do her any good. The ransom was a ruse; this was about revenge. She'd known that the minute she'd seen the man who took her. And anyone coming to deliver a ransom would just end up dead too.

After a few seconds, though, the phone man nodded to her attendant. He, in turn, pinched Athena's arm as hard as he could. She yelped in shock, scowled in annoyance...

'Athena!?'

...and paled in absolute horror.

" _Don't come, Sie‼_ " she shrieked at the phone, tears springing to her eyes. " _It's a trick‼ They'll kill me either way‼ It's the ya_ \- "

"That's enough," her attendant barked, clapping a hand over her mouth.

But it _wasn't_ enough. Not for Athena Asamiya. Her scowl back on and ten times darker, she closed her eyes, focused...and _exploded_ into the Shining Crystal Bit.

The cuffs snapped. The tape melted. The chair shattered into splinters. Her attendant, the only one in the blast radius, flew into the back wall and crumpled bonelessly to the ground. The other men shouted and ran for the front of the room; the phone man called out the door for backup, while the other three just _stared_ at the bright-orange barrier and the purple Bits orbiting it.

Athena couldn't keep the shield up forever, of course. When she dropped it, she immediately gathered the Bits and threw them at one of the men, sending him to the floor. Terrified but loyal, the other two men at her sides moved in on her; she intercepted one with a Psycho Ball, but the other got to her and grabbed her...until an unseen force pulled him off of her and tossed him into the ceiling.

Then the phone man pulled out a gun and pointed it at her heart.

Then she Teleported behind him and Reflector'd him into the table.

Unfortunately, she had bad timing. As the man (and the table) collapsed, his backup arrived, coming up on her from behind. Before she could turn, three men had grabbed hold of her, two by the arms and one by the waist. Athena grimaced, knowing she was in trouble; she couldn't move her legs enough to Teleport, and she didn't have the strength yet for another Shining Crystal Bit.

Desperately, she flung the man on her left arm away with her mind. But the one behind her snatched it instead, pulling it down and gripping it along with her waist. As she shifted her struggles to her left, his right hand briefly let her go...then came back up and held a chloroform-soaked rag to her face.

For a moment, Athena panicked. She just shook her head wildly, forgetting she had psychic powers and even that she shouldn't breathe. By the time she remembered, the drug had already started to work; she tried to hold her breath, to do... _some_ thing, but she was already too woozy.

With a sad whimper, she blacked out again, falling into her captors' arms.

* * *

"Athena‼ _Athena‼_ "

Kensou screamed into the phone again and again, praying for _some_ kind of response. The workout center staff had given him a wide berth by then, knowing that he was okay (physically, at least). One of them had tried to dial 110, but he'd stopped her; he'd seen enough movies to not want to alert the police yet.

"Answer me, damnit! _Hello!?_ Is anybody - "

'Shaddup‼'

The voice cut through Kensou's plea like a knife, silencing him. It was a new voice now, one that didn't seem nearly as reasonable. Stunned, Kensou simply followed instructions again, not knowing how to handle this. (Not that he knew how to handle _any_ of this.)

'...your _bitch_ girlfriend's a real nuisance, you know that?'

In a flash, Kensou was furious. "Don't you _talk_ about her that way‼"

'She's gotta lot of...what's that word?' the new man mused, ignoring the threat. 'Ah yeah, that's right: "spunk". ...I fucking _hate_ spunk.'

 _That_ shut Sie up.

'Tonight,' the man went on. 'You got till midnight _tonight_ to bring the money here. Or she's dead.'

"...I can't get a hundred million yen by _tonight_!" Sie exclaimed. "Even if I _had_ it, the banks aren't open‼"

The man paused.

'...hmph,' he said finally, conceding the point. 'Fine then. Still midnight tomorrow. But unless you want this bitch chloroformed for 24 hours, _you_ gotta tell us how to restrain her. We have to fight her again, we're gonna kill her. _Slow._ '

Kensou's heart sank into his stomach. He didn't know much about chloroform, but he knew too much of it was a _real_ good way to get killed. Or brain damaged. Or scarred on contact, if you were sensitive. He didn't want any of that for her; he didn't see any other choice.

 _Athena...I'm sorry..._

He closed his eyes, bent his head, and started talking.

* * *

When Athena woke again hours later, her situation had changed dramatically.

She found herself in a new room, this one bright beige instead of dark. There was no table, no decorations; there weren't even any chairs. She simply laid there on the floor, stretched out in the middle of the room. She wasn't quite the _only_ thing in it, though.

They'd put her in handcuffs again, her hands still behind her back. They'd tied her legs together this time, not with tape but braided nylon rope. They'd wrapped a cloth gag around her mouth, bunched into it at the middle.

And, if she was feeling it right, she now had a collar.

Of course, she might not be feeling right. The double-whammy of drugs they'd hit her with could put anyone off. She couldn't see it to confirm it, either, or reach up to it with her fingers. But in her heart, she _knew_ these bastards had given her a _collar_. She just hoped it was symbolic, and not meant for something more sinister.

On the bright side, she still had her clothes on. It didn't relieve her _nearly_ as much this time, though.

The only other thing in the room was the door. But the door had a window - and she could see someone looking through it, another black-suited man she didn't recognize. She expected him to open the door, or maybe the window, and start talking. Instead, a voice came from above her...loud enough to feel it all around her.

'Wakey, wakey, princess.'

She knew that voice.

A deep sense of terror filled her...but also a righteous fury. The fury won out, and she looked up with a scowl at - well, at nothing, really. Wherever he was, though, her enemy definitely saw her; the next thing she heard was mocking laughter.

'Awww, I'm sorry,' the man oozed. 'Would you prefer Asamiya- _sama_? The Psycho Soldier? ...or how about your name from when _I_ knew you? Would you like that one? _...Dazzler?_ '

Athena's eyes narrowed. She _hated_ that name.

'You don't know how long I've _waited_ for this,' the man went on, savoring it. 'The bosses never liked me, but after _you_ they hated my guts. They called me weak. Stupid. Pathetic. It took me _years_ to prove them wrong. And even when I did - even when I worked up the ranks enough to lead the op myself - they _still_ wouldn't let me go after you...until Sie Kensou made his play.'

Her face softened in confusion. _Sie...?_

''Till then, they kept saying it wasn't worth the risk. All they wanted from you was ransom money, and none of your friends had enough. But then you and that pissant said you _loved each other_ , in front of all the masses. So they watched you. They waited. They kept track of your accounts. And the minute you gave him emergency access to your funds, they _finally_... _FINALLY_ let me have you.'

Now her face completely slackened, as she realized he was telling the truth. She had, indeed, given Sie access to her funds. ...she'd done it _yesterday_.

'This isn't _just_ about ransom money, of course,' the man assured her. 'The deal was to take you here, collect the money, and give you back alive. If the kid fucks it up, I get to kill you. _Slow._ ' He paused again; she could feel his grin. 'And if he doesn't? ...well. You'd be _surprised_ what you can live through.'

The terror began to win out.

'It'll be worse if you act up again, though,' he warned. 'And it won't do you any good anyway. You surprised us before, but now we know how to keep you in line. ...you've got your _boyfriend_ to thank for that.'

Athena cringed...but not because she felt betrayed. She _knew_ they must have forced him, and she knew it must have hurt.

'Handcuffs, no fireballs. Leg ties, no teleports. We already had that covered, of course. But _he's_ the one who said you couldn't 'port through solid walls. _He's_ the one who said you could only move things with your mind at close range. _HE'S_ the one who said somebody should watch you remotely, ready to pump sleeping gas into the room if there's trouble.

'...don't worry, though. The shock collar was our idea.'

Her eyes closed.

''Pain and fear'. That's what he said screwed up your focus,' the man sneered. 'We figured a shock collar would fit the bill pretty well. The thing has three settings; right now you're on #1. You look like you're gonna try something, we give you a little pop.'

Then the man outside the door demonstrated, holding up a remote and pressing a button. A jolt of electricity, quick but strong, shot into Athena's neck. It made her whole body jump, made all her muscles clench together; she let out a sharp yelp, though it was muffled by her gag. _...yeah, that'll do it,_ she thought miserably; she'd never be able to focus through _that_.

'You manage to get something going, we change it to Setting #2 and tase you. You actually get close to the exit...or you piss me off too much...then we'll just switch to Setting 3 and fuckin' electrocute you. Got it?'

 _Got it,_ Athena thought needlessly, trembling.

'Alright, princess. I'd like to start the fun right now, but I'd be too tired to enjoy it. It's been a long damn day...thanks to you, you fuckin' nuisance. So I'm gonna go rest up - and I think you'd better, too. We got another long day ahead of us...a _long_ damn day. See you then!'

She heard a long, loud click, and assumed that he was gone.

 _Useless. I am USELESS._ Athena's eyes closed again, started swimming with tears. They had neutralized her completely...even put in a failsafe. She was a psychic, damnit - but what did that even _mean_? The psychics in the stories could've teleported _out_ of here, or torn the door off its hinges and _slammed_ it into the guard. They could've looked into his mind, figured out how to manipulate him. Hell, some of them could've _controlled_ him, and made him open the door at once.

She couldn't do any of those things. She couldn't do _anything_ right now. She was Dazzler again. She was _worse_ than Dazzler. Dazzler could've thrown a fireball.

But then she realized...no she wasn't. Not quite, anyway. She could still do one thing Dazzler couldn't have, one thing her captors hadn't thought of.

So Athena looked up at the guard, and did the only thing she could.

 _Please let me go,_ she begged him, bypassing the gag and speaking directly into his mind. _I don't want to die. I don't want to have his kind of 'fun'. I could get you OUT of here, get you away from a life of crime. ...I could pay you instead of them. I could -_

"Boss, you were right!" the guard called out. "She's trying to get inside my head!"

Her jaw dropped.

'Ha! I knew it,' the intercom blared, crackling back to life. 'Fuckin' nuisance bitch...'

"Want me to show her how Setting 2 feels?"

"Mmmph! _MMMPH‼_ "

'Sure, sounds good. Give her a taste.'

With a quick smirk in her direction, the guard did just that. It felt like the "little pop", really...except it lasted for _five seconds_ , five of the most excruciating, horrifying seconds of Athena's life. She didn't jump around like she expected - her body just _seized_ , curling up in something close to the fetal position. She did _scream_ like she expected, though; if she hadn't had the gag, she might have deafened herself.

And then it was over...and she just laid there, trembling and weeping.

'Gonna behave now, princess?' her enemy asked. ''Course, I'd _love_ it if you didn't, so...y'know. Your call.'

The intercom clicked off again.

 _...useless,_ she reinforced, her eyes closed and leaking tears once more. _I am useless._

* * *

End Notes

Probably the most sadistic I have ever been. ...I did it for a reason, though. I promise. (And no, it's not because I hate her now ;_; )

...I cheated, by the way. Athena doesn't even have telepathy, according to the wikia and every other source I could find. So I guess even _this_ story may not be canon compliant. But the wikia also says Sie _does_ have it...and even if that has a canon source, I refuse to believe that he does and she doesn't.

(Athena uses _more_ powers she may not have in The Deal, especially in the last chapter. We're going to ignore those in this story, leaving her with only what's in canon. I thought about rewriting parts of Deal for consistency's sake, but it'd take a _whole_ lot of work and probably make it a weaker story. So I'll leave it alone, at least for now; we'll call it " _mostly_ canon compliant".)

See you soon...


	3. Escape

Notes

I'll go ahead and spoil this chapter a little by saying it's much lighter than the last. (You could probably tell by the title anyway.) I'm not sure it's my _best_ work, but that's okay; that's not really what this story is _for_.

Hold on, Athena! Your knight in shining armor is coming...!

* * *

Chapter 3 - Escape

Sie Kensou didn't sleep a wink that night.

The kidnappers had made a fatal mistake, letting two people talk to him. The first one just told him to bring the ransom to an old storage building, the abandoned Kyocera Dome facility deep in Osaka's underbelly. But the second one, the frazzled one, told him to bring the ransom "here". Unless he was just crazy, that meant Athena was already at the facility...and that meant Sie could go there _now_ , and _save_ his beloved.

Unfortunately, Sie also made a fatal mistake: he told Master Chin about it first.

The Master was a grim, calm counterpart to Kensou's panicked storm. Don't do anything rash, he said. Get the police's advice, he said. But that was the one thing Sie _didn't_ want to do. Every kidnapper he'd seen in movies or television told whoever they called "don't contact the police". Granted, the only ones he'd ever _talked to_ hadn't...but they probably just expected him to know it on his own. And for all Sie knew, they had his and Chin's phones tapped.

So he wanted to go down there. Bring Chin, bring Kyo...bring every fighter he could find. But Chin insisted that, until the kidnappers had what they wanted, any kind of contact was sure to get Athena killed. He spent the rest of the night trying to talk some sense into him; he kept him from racing to the rescue, but couldn't get him to call the cops. (Chin nearly did it himself, until Sie promised never to speak to him again if he did.)

Finally, near the crack of dawn, Chin couldn't stay awake anymore. He made Kensou promise to stay home, promised never to speak to him again if he didn't - but that meant nothing to him. Chin loved his pupils equally; Kensou loved Athena more than anything. She was the one thing he couldn't bear to lose...and he'd spent the last few hours figuring out the best way to prevent that.

So the minute he could, Kensou slipped out of the apartment, did what he had to do, and raced to the rescue...

* * *

Athena Asamiya didn't get a wink of sleep, either.

But her night was very, very different.

She didn't have anyone to talk to. She couldn't get up and pace around; she couldn't grab a drink or some food. (They didn't give her any, either. Probably didn't want to risk it.) She had nothing to do, nothing for hours and hours, but think. So she did. And she came to some important conclusions.

She had regressed last night, she knew. The shock, the situation, that _man_...they'd disarmed her in more ways than one. They hadn't just taken her powers, but her confidence, her spirit. They'd made her feel like a little girl again; they'd made her feel powerless.

She wasn't. She wasn't either of those things. She was a warrior; she was a superstar. She'd defeated countless foes, both in tournaments and out of them. She'd sold out concert halls, entire _tours_ , all over the world. She'd won the respect of artists, both music and martial, with ten times her experience. She had grown _so much_ since she'd met that man...and she would _not_ let him take it away.

Dazzler? Hardly. A psychic? Who cared? She was _Athena Asamiya_ , damnit. And they couldn't make her a little girl again.

...and they couldn't make her powerless, either.

Oh, sure, they'd stopped her from using her best moves. The strongest ones, the most obvious. But they hadn't stripped _away_ her powers - they'd just stripped them _down_. She still had that hidden strength inside her, just begging to be used. And she _could_ use it, too.

She just had to get creative.

She made her first play a few hours in, when she tried a Shining Crystal Bit. It wouldn't reach the guard, of course - but it would destroy the ropes and handcuffs, and she could handle her warden by throwing the Bits through the window. But she couldn't use it fast enough; the man had time to see her aura flaring. He gave her a quick jolt to stop her, and promised to make it a long one next time.

It deterred her for about an hour, most of which she spent thinking up new tactics. The next thing she tried was breaking her handcuffs, pulling on them with her hands _and_ her mind. But even with both, she wasn't strong enough to separate them. Later, she tried _unlocking_ her cuffs with her mind...but the guard was observant. He heard the cuffs shifting slightly, noticed her eyes had stayed shut for a while. That got her a jolt _and_ a new rule: eyes forward and open at all times. (At least he told her she could _blink_.)

The restriction cut her options even further...but she refused to give up. When a new guard appeared for a shift change, she watched carefully, waiting for an opening. When none came, she tried "speaking" with the new man; his aura was darker, but weaker, so she used a threat instead of a plea. He responded with another tasing, stopping her struggles entirely for a while.

When she recovered, she realized time was running short. She had no idea how many hours had passed - but she knew _she_ could've "rested up" by now. Sweat forming on her brow, she tried desperately to think of _some_ thing she could use...and came up empty. She just hadn't learned anything fast or stealthy enough for a situation like this.

And then she realized: she could _always_ learn.

Athena sat up and faced the guard, focusing her eyes just below him. She stuck her handcuffs down her slacks, muffling the noise they could make. She then tried to do something she never had before: use her telekinesis without moving _or_ closing her eyes.

It was...irritating. Her fingers kept twitching, trying to help guide her movements; her vision kept shifting, blurring between the room and the _waves_. Stone-faced, stone-bodied, she used every last shred of her concentration, searching, straining, hoping, _pleading_...

Until the lock clicked.

Thankfully, the guard didn't hear it. Thankfully she managed to keep her sigh of relief to herself. _Slowly_ she eased her hands upwards, through the cuffs and out of her pants. She then began prepping her fastest energy blast, gritting her teeth as she charged it as much as she could behind her back...

...and then, with a quick prayer, she let it fly.

" _Psycho Shoot‼_ "

The cry was useless, really. For one thing, it came out as "Phhchm Phuu‼", thanks to her gag; for another, she managed to release it before she even finished announcing it. The projectile _screamed_ from her hands as she clapped them together, crossing the room in the blink of an eye. It then plowed through the window, slammed into the guard, and popped him up into the ceiling, knocking him out before he even knew what hit him.

" _MMMPH‼_ " Athena cheered, pumping her fist. She ripped the gag from her mouth, tossed the handcuffs out of her slacks. She started untying the leg ropes, but quickly realized it was futile...so she sliced through them instead, using an arm-only Psycho Sword to create a cutting swath of energy. The shock collar, sadly, was much more firmly secured; she would have to deal with it later.

By then the room was filling with gas, just as her enemy had promised. Grimacing, she Teleported to the door and started trying to break through. She enhanced her strength and pulled, but she couldn't break the lock; she had more luck picking it mentally, but she couldn't do it _fast_. Soon her doom had almost reached her - so she threw up a Reflector, keeping it at bay for just a little while longer. She strained herself terribly, using both powers at once...she started getting a headache, felt the beginnings of an _aneurysm_...

 _Oh, screw it._

With that she unleashed the Shining Crystal Bit, "wasting" energy but blasting the door into kindling. She cancelled it quick as she could, then sprinted down the hall, easily outpacing the slow-moving gas. Once she reached the end, she took a moment to catch her breath...then leaned against the wall and _laughed_ , letting a night's worth of tension (and a splitting headache) drain out of her.

 _Hard part's over,_ Athena thought, wiping a tear from her eye. _Now for the even harder part..._

She'd only broken out of her room, after all. She still had to break out of the _building_.

She quickly but cautiously rounded the corner, her head darting about as she scanned for movement. She found a long hallway with strings of doors on each side, part of the office portion of the facility. As she ran through it - not Teleported, she didn't want to stumble into trouble - she got jittery again, imagining enemy forces behind every door. She had only her sense of evil to rely on for warning; she hadn't felt any nearby yet, but she knew that meant little.

Then, at the end of the hall, Athena _did_ feel something. Some _ones_ , actually, racing towards her from around the next corner. She heard footsteps seconds later anyway, but the precious extra time let her prepare a greeting: the slow-but-powerful Psycho Ball Revolution. The souped-up fireball passed the corner just as the men rounded it, knocking two of them to the floor and startling the hell out of the third.

He recovered quickly and rushed in on her, brandishing a stun gun. Despite her recent ordeal, she had no fear of it at all; how much more dangerous was this than fighting Benimaru Nikaido? She bobbed and weaved smoothly, slipping through his clumsy strikes and frantic lunges like water. When she found an opening (it didn't take long), she hopped up and punished him with a Phoenix Fang Arrow, battering him with energy Arrows before taking him down with a real one.

By that time, the other two gangsters had gotten to their feet. They ran towards their target, screaming for vengeance - but they were five yards away, _way_ too far for Athena Asamiya. She finished one with a regular Psycho Ball, then pounced on the other with the New Psycho Reflector, a crackling energy orb centered on her outthrust hands. The defensive move worked just as well on offense, knocking him out for the count.

Grinning in triumph, she rounded the corner - and gasped. She had emerged in the building's lobby, another hallway across from her... _and an exit to her left._

Her heart racing, she Teleported to it, praying it had been left open. But it was locked, of course - and this barrier was _much_ stronger than the last, a pair of heavy double doors made of stubborn-looking steel. The Shining Crystal Bit might not be quite enough for this one...but when it came to destruction, Athena had plenty of options.

Her choice this time was the Guardian Crystal, a rarely-used technique that wreathed her hands in psychic energy for a moment. Her fists both strengthened and protected, she punched the door as hard as she could - but it didn't break it, barely even made a dent. Scowling, she assaulted it over and over; eventually she went into the Psycho Medley, certain that the combination's finishing move would _end_ all this...

And then she realized: she'd stopped paying attention to her 'radar'.

She realized it when a hail of gunfire erupted, filling the air around her with bullets. It was by sheer dumb luck that she only got hit once, in the arm, before she could react. Howling in pain, she leaped into the air, looking around frantically for her assailants. She found them bunched in front of the opposite hallway, four dark-suited men carrying semi-automatic weapons. Apparently they were playing for keeps, now...just as her enemy had promised.

Still in midair, she curled into a Phoenix Arrow and fell away from them, landing behind a thick old desk. Of course, even the thickest desk isn't bulletproof - and the gangsters seemed to know it, shooting right at it instead of stopping to circle around. Bullets riddled the front of the thing, a few of them getting all the way through...but Athena couldn't have moved if she wanted to.

 _GEEZ, this hurts,_ she thought cleverly, wincing at her wounded arm. The wound was bleeding profusely, and painful enough to hurt her focus...but the bullet had stuck inside her, lodged just beneath the surface. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she slowly extracted it with her mind, then summoned up her healing energy, sealing the wound.

Sighing in relief, she scooted to the edge of the desk and quickly planned out her counterstrike. She didn't have much time before her cover collapsed...but she needed even less. Just before it did, she rolled aside and blurred into a Teleport; several bullets hit her, but they went right through. Then she was out of their path, and out of the shooters' field of vision. They quickly stopped and tried to find her - but she was zipping _everywhere_ , blinking away the instant they saw her (if not before).

Then, suddenly, she was right next to them...and she unleashed the Phoenix Infinity.

The aura of the phoenix poured out from her, bathing her assailants in pink flames. Then she rose gracefully from the floor - and the phoenix dragged them with her, popping them high into the air. They went about half as high as she did before falling away...and then she came screaming down at them, the massive aura still surrounding her. It caught all four of the men and drove them hard into the floor; they did not get up.

She didn't either, for a moment. That move took a lot out of her, and she'd used a lot already. Slowly, she rose from the ground and jogged towards the door, not at all sure how she would break it. She didn't have it in her to do another Crystal/Medley combo; in fact she only had the strength left for one big move, meaning she'd have to choose it carefully.

And then she remembered her latest, and knew that it was her best hope.

She stood in front of the door for a second, taking deep, calming breaths. Then she leaped into the air, drew back her arm, and started charging. She gathered all the energy she could, every scrap that she had left. This would be an all-or-nothing shot...and she wanted it _all_.

She kept charging...charging...charging...and then, finally...

"Iii _keee...!_ "

She sent forth the biggest Athena Explosion she'd conjured in her life. The gigantic purple fireball hit the door and, well, _exploded_ , detonating against it with the force of a small bomb. Athena felt the backdraft as she landed, had to shield her eyes from the flash. When it was over, she lowered her arm...and found an eight-by-eight-foot hole in the wall, scrap metal scattered all around it.

 _...okay, that MAY have been overkill,_ she thought sheepishly.

But she didn't care. She had _done_ it. Beyond the wreckage she could see the _sun_ , shining on a run-down part of Osaka that had never looked so good. She could see a pay phone, even, less than two blocks away. She had no strength left to Teleport, so she just grinned and _ran_ , passing through the exit and into sweet, sweet freedom -

"Hold it, princess."

The voice sent a shock of fear to her heart, a stab of anger to her brain. For a second, she ignored it; then, against her better judgment, she scowled and turned around. ...and then the world fell out from under her.

Her enemy was there, standing at the back of the lobby...

...and holding a knife to Sie Kensou's throat.

* * *

End Notes

See? I told you I still liked Athena. ;)

That _is_ all of them, by the way. Every single psychic power she's ever used in any game, or at least any fighting game. It was a personal challenge :) I didn't include every _variant_ , of course; there's a ton of different versions of the Psycho Medley, and the Healing Athena and Super Psychic Throw are just big bursts of stuff she already has here. If you find one I outright missed, though, don't hesitate to send it in! I want to get this one _right_.

Here I am making Kensou look bad again, huh. :/ Sorry, folks - but this is _her_ story, not his. (You want one of _his_ stories, go read Botan.)

So, there you go. Lighter fare, just as promised.  
...but the last chapter's gonna be the darkest one of all.

See you soon...


	4. Return

Notes

Okay, this one _might_ cost me some friendships.

What _happens_ here is _necessary_ , or at least it is to me. (You disagree, tell me how else she figures out what she does. I'm all ears.) But the way I wrote it isn't; it's gratuitous and shocking. I'm not embarrassed to admit it, though - I am _going_ for shocking. I want to see if I can make you _feel_ something, whether you think it's through genuinely good writing or just cheap tropes kicked up a notch. ...call it a literary experiment.

The chapter goes downhill fast, folks. Last chance to turn back...

* * *

Chapter 4 - Return

"Kensou‼" Athena screamed, her eyes wide. "What are you - "

"Shaddup‼" her enemy barked, pressing the knife hard to Sie's throat. Cringing, Athena shut up; the man sneered and eased it back. "Found the little screwup out back a while ago, trying to sneak his way in. Pretty easy to get the drop on him, since he was so busy trying to get the drop on _us_."

For his part, Sie looked furious, despite the knife at his throat. This wasn't going according to plan at all...not even his _backup_ plan. He wanted to say _so much_ to Athena - but right now, his orders were to keep quiet. And he had a very good reason to follow them.

"Now I would _love_ to kill him in front of you," the man went on with a grin, "but the bosses would _not_ be happy. We still need to get the ransom out of him, after all. So we're gonna go back to your room now, nice and slow...and then we're gonna 'negotiate'. Got it?"

"Got it," Athena said needlessly, trembling again.

He motioned her toward the hallway, and she began the long, grim march. Pushing Sie along, he followed her, giving her a wide berth. He figured that if he stayed away from her, he could react before she hit him if she tried anything. He didn't realize just how fast some of her powers were...but luckily for him, she was out of juice anyway.

As they marched, Kensou kept following orders - but he felt brave enough to skirt them. _Athena,_ he called out mentally; she jumped in surprise, but not enough to alert their captor. _He told me not to talk, but we can still do it this way if we don't give ourselves away._

 _...what are you doing here...?_ she asked; she didn't sound angry - just miserable.

 _I wanted to rescue you,_ he replied, just as miserably. _I didn't want you in his hands for another minute longer...!_

 _It wasn't worth it,_ she moaned. _You could've been killed!_

 _YOU could've been killed!_ he shot back. _And I'd die a thousand times before I let you die once‼_

 _I don't want EITHER of us to die, Sie,_ she told him, a tear rolling down her cheek.

 _Can you do anything to stop him? A Teleport or something...?_

 _I used up all my strength getting out,_ she admitted. _What about you? Can you break free?_ (They'd practiced getting out of similar holds a thousand times in training, after all.)

 _Nope, can't risk it. If I mess up this time, he'll kill you._

 _But Sie...I mean...he only has a knife..._

 _No,_ he told her grimly. _He has the remote for your collar._

Her jaw dropped. Her eyes widened. Her hand reached up for it -

 _Don't reach up for it‼_ he reminded her, catching her just in time.

She didn't need to anyway. She could still feel the contact points pressed against her neck, forgotten until now in the chaos. _...it's still there,_ she moaned to herself, her heart sinking into her stomach. She'd hoped dearly the Shining Crystal Bit would destroy it - but she knew it might not, knew the thing was too tight around her skin. What was left of her bravado faded away; he'd managed to take _both_ of them hostage.

Sie could sense her distress, and his own heart sank for causing it. _Don't worry, Athena. We're gonna get out of this. I -_

"You first."

They both blinked; they both looked at their surroundings. They had reached the end of the long hallways, and were now standing at the doorway to Athena's prison. Shivering, she followed her enemy's orders, stepping around the door's remains. She went dutifully to the back of the room, already knowing that's where he wanted her.

"Alright, then. Negotiations," he began, entering the room with Kensou but stopping just inside the doorway. "But first...I gotta tell you, princess: you've got a real great guy here. So noble. So courageous. ...and _so_ fuckin' stupid."

"G-get on with it," Athena stammered, scowling.

"Y'see, dipshit here?" he said, ignoring her. "He already brought the ransom money."

Her jaw dropped again.

"He knew he'd screw this up, so he brought it as insurance. He figured if we got it, we'd let you go, even if we got it early. ...of course he didn't just _give_ it to us; he said he hid it somewhere, and he'd lead us to it if we let you out."

She took a brief look at Sie, and saw at once that it was true. His face fell; his shoulders slumped; his eyes stared off to the side. Stupid or not, he clearly felt shame for what he did.

Then she noticed her enemy's eyes had narrowed, and his smile had become an awful grin. "But lemme tell ya something, junior," he hissed, looking at Kensou now. "You manage to live through this, and try to hide something again?

"...don't hide it in your fucking _trunk_."

Then he slit his throat from ear to ear and tossed him back into the hallway.

" _SIIIIIIIIIEEE‼‼_ "

And that was as far as she got before he pressed the button.

Her cry became an ear-splitting shriek, and she went down like a sack of potatoes. It was the same, unimaginable pain from before - but she felt it on a different level, this time. Her enemy had just ripped her heart out of her chest; what were a few thousand volts to her now?

"Did you really think," he growled, "that I was gonna let you live⁇ That was _never_ the plan, princess. Not _my_ plan, anyway. Get the screwup here with the ransom, then kill the both of you. _That's_ me. ...oh, they'll be pissed I killed a VIP. Might demote me, might even take a finger. ...but it'll be _worth it_."

By now the pain was starting to get to her, overtaking the hurt. She tried to reach for the collar, but couldn't; she could barely move, let alone work a limb. She could do nothing, nothing but scream bloody murder, waiting for it to stop.

To _stop_.

To _STOP_.

...it _really_ should've stopped by now.

"Did you know," he went on, still holding the button as he walked towards her, "that you can tase someone as long as you want? All the volts do is fuck with you - it's _amps_ that kill, and the amps are too low to do shit. You could tase someone forever; you could do it 'till they _starve_ to death. 'Course, the stress'd probably kill the heart or the brain first...but who knows how long that'd take?"

The pain was making her lose focus. Her vision blurred, her hearing echoed; she could barely think. But she had enough comprehension left to know that he meant this wouldn't stop. _This was never going to stop._

"And did you also know," he said, now standing over her legs, "that you can touch someone while they're being tased?" He squatted down and nudged her to demonstrate, turning her over onto her back. "The shock goes _into_ your body, not _through_ it. That's when the cops cuff you: _during_ the tase. Oh, sure, you have to be careful near the contact points...but other than that, you can touch anything you want."

He ran his hand down the inside of her thigh.

"Anything."

 _...no...n-no...he's going to...aah! AHHHH‼‼ ...s-s-s-stoppit! Stoppit‼ Gotta stop it. Gotta THINK. ...gotta think...gotta think...gotta... ...aaaaaaAAAAAA_ _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHAAAHHHAAAAAAHHH‼‼**_ _...hn...hn-hn-hn...hn... ...NO! Stoppit. FOCUS. ...can't fight...can't run...can't AAAHHH‼...m-m-move. Only think. Only my mind. My... My energy? Do I have energy yet? ...ghh...GHH..._ _ **Oh, god, please make it stop.**_ _...yes...energy, little energy...but what to do? Can't move, can't use it. ...unless...except -_ _ **ffffFFUUCCKK‼**_ _...the only thing. The only way. It's m-my...my only chance..._

With all the focus she could muster, Athena unleashed her attack...

...and an invisible force lightly slapped her enemy's cheek.

For a moment, he was dumbfounded. Then he looked her in the eye and laughed. "Holy shit, _you can still struggle_! Oh, this is perfect."

He had already straddled her, had just finished opening her pink button-down. (Buttons aren't as easy to work one-handed, and he needed the other hand to keep the tase going.) Now he laid down on top of her, whispering into her ear.

"I have wanted you since you were Dazzler. _Since you were fourteen._ ...then you took away my eye; then you got fucking superpowers. After that I knew I couldn't have you...but I never stopped wanting."

He reached into her shirt, fondled her over her bra. Meanwhile invisible forces kept slapping the air, mostly off the mark. To his left side; to his right side. One cuffed him on the chin.

"Then you and that screwup told the world you were in love. Suddenly you were back in play...and I started thinking again. I thought, 'What if I could paralyze her? Drug her? Make her too fucked up to use her powers?' ...hell, just getting you _unconscious_ would be better than nothing."

He turned his head a little bit, licked her face from chin to scalp. The forces were closer now, and sharper; one left a light welt on his neck.

"And then, the day I finally had you, _your boyfriend_ told me how to stop you. 'Pain and fear'...what a great combination. I thought of shock collars right off, and it didn't take long to find a good one. You couldn't move; you couldn't attack; you couldn't use your powers. You couldn't struggle for me either, though...or so I thought. But now...now I've got everything I always wanted."

He straddled her again, started to pull down her black slacks. One clipped his collar, one cut his earlobe; one scratched the inside of his cheek.

"So go ahead and struggle, Dazzler. Struggle all you want. You're only - "

Then one severed his medulla, and he died immediately.

He collapsed on top of her with a heavy _whump_ , forcing some of the breath out of her. The remote for the collar fell out of his hand, and the current stopped at once. Athena barely noticed either event; she'd lost most of her awareness right about when he'd started groping her. She came back to herself a few seconds later...and immediately started weeping, even as she shoved the body off her.

There were no words. She couldn't think of any, not even for herself. It was unthinkable to begin with - and yet she wondered if she'd ever think of anything else again. She knew that she had two lives, now: one before the attack, one after it. She wasn't sure how different they'd be yet...but they, _she_ , would never be the same.

...the one responsible was dead, though, she thought as her head lolled over towards him. No signs of life whatsoever; no signs he'd ever _been_ alive. She felt a fierce joy that he'd been murdered, a grim satisfaction that _she_ had done it...but neither could come close right now to the pain she had endured. And even all three of them together couldn't quite block out the question: how _had_ she done it, anyway...?

But then all four thoughts - everything - melted away, as she remembered he might not be the only dead man here.

"...Sie. _Sie,_ " Athena gasped, her throat sore from all the screaming. She struggled for a moment to get up; her muscles worked just like they should again, but she was so disoriented she could barely make them do it. Eventually she wobbled to her feet and started stumbling for the doorway. "Sie! _Sie‼_ "

Then she saw him, and she let out a high, keening wail.

He was slumped against the wall, as if he'd tried to use it to get up. He was covered in blood, from neck to toe...but the wound had stopped bleeding. His cheeks were pale; his eyes were closed. And he didn't seem to be moving.

"...oh, _Siiie_..." she moaned, running to and falling over him. She felt his neck, put her ear on his chest, put her hand against his nose. There was no pulse; there was no breath. It was done.

" _...you big dummy‼_ " she cried suddenly, pounding her fist into his chest. "I told you not to come, and you did anyway! You brought insurance, and you hid it in your _trunk_! Why do you keep acting like a screwup!? _You are not a screwup‼_ "

With that she fell against his chest, sobbing in earnest this time. She'd realized she loved him...a month ago, maybe? Surely two months at the most. They'd had all that time before then and she'd _wasted_ it, scared and shy and aloof. _She_ was the screwup around here. She had screwed this up so much.

Finally, Athena stopped sobbing, and she leaned away from Kensou. She reached up to him; she took his cheeks; she pulled his head forward. Then she leaned in and gave him one last kiss, her eyes closed just like his. She knew he'd never know it, and she knew it wasn't what she wanted. But it was all they could have, now. It would have to be enough.

...and then she felt it.

Slowly, so slowly, her whole body started to tingle. She ignored it at first, still giving him her last kiss. ...then she blinked a few times; she pulled back, took a look at herself. And she found her body glowing with a strange, white light.

It frightened her, at first. But the more it overtook her, the more it felt _natural_ \- something to welcome, maybe something she'd been missing. Soon she realized it was power, filling her up from out of nowhere. She felt invincible. She felt _omnipotent_. And she knew she could set things right.

She leaned forward and kissed her love again, this time directly on his wound. She poured some of the power into him, and it went to work fast. The wound sealed itself, not even leaving a scar; the color returned to his cheeks. His synapses started firing...and, finally, he began to breathe.

Its job done, the power started to leave her, slowly fading away. She still felt _mostly_ calm, but behind it was euphoria...and confusion. What _was_ this, and how had it known that she needed it? Curiously, she asked it; it responded with a vision. And her jaw dropped once more.

Apparently, she really _was_ descended from a goddess.

Then she left her completely, and Athena felt normal again. The unnatural calm left her too, and she looked at Kensou with a wide-eyed grin. "Sie! _Sie‼_ Wake up‼" she demanded, shaking him perhaps a little _too_ roughly. Within seconds, he opened his eyes - and actually scowled at her.

"...what the hell, Ath - "

That was as far as he got before she kissed him, both desperately and tenderly. He couldn't stay mad after _that_ , of course; instead he closed his eyes and kissed her back, pulling her closer against him. ...then he noticed that his arms seemed really, _really_ wet. He reopened his eyes and looked down at himself - and they widened into saucers.

He pulled away from her quickly. "Umm, Athena? Why am I covered in blood⁇"

"What do you remember, Sie?" she asked in return, cocking her head.

Frowning, Kensou looked down in thought...and paled again. "...I remember dying," he murmured, staring off into the distance.

"Yes. But you were _saved_ ," she told him, placing a hand on his cheek. "You weren't supposed to die yet; it wasn't your time. Your death was an _injustice_...and it's been set right."

He thought for a moment, then chuckled weakly. "Well thank god for that," he joked, wearing his trademark goofy grin.

"Thank the goddess," she said quietly, her own smile soft but bright.

* * *

They found out how she did it right after they called the police.

Kensou worried they'd want to question her. Athena worried they'd want to _study_ her. So she closed her eyes and felt around her enemy's brain, finding the cut in the stem and trying to reconnect the nerves. When she couldn't, Kensou suggested she make the cut jagged; then he banged the man's head against the floor, trying to make it look like trauma damage. They had no idea if it would work. (Nobody brought it up later, though.)

By the time they got her collar off, some of the other men had woken up, and they were racing through the facility looking for her. When they found her with no bonds and a partner, though, they surrendered immediately. She told them to get down on the ground, and they followed her to the letter; they were still there when the police arrived, and started rounding up the suspects.

Soon enough, Chin was there too - and even Kaoru, who'd randomly tried to call Athena last night. Athena gave her summary of events to the police, then a softer version to her friend and family. She told them her captor had tased and attacked her, but left out the gory details, including the fact that he'd done both at once. (Chin realized it quickly, but said nothing; Sie asked her about it that evening, and then held her as she cried.)

After far too long, it was over. The cops took the suspects away; the medical staff cleared Athena to leave. They asked if she wanted to talk to a counselor - but she just smiled, and said she wanted to be with her family. And she _felt_ like smiling; she was just so glad that she and Kensou were alive.

Before the police left, though, she excused herself, saying she needed to make a phone call. She walked around to the other side of the building for privacy. Then she pulled out a phone...the phone she had recovered from her enemy before she left him. She'd already made sure it was unlocked; now she went to the call log, and redialed the last number he'd talked to.

It took about half a ring to answer.

'Where the hell have you been!? Report‼'

She tried to say where "he" was, then blinked. She'd never even learned his name.

"Your man is dead," she told him instead. "This is his target."

Silence.

'...what do you want.'

"Your man tried to kill me," she went on, her voice icy death. "He tried to rape me. He made my boyfriend turn against me; then he tried to kill him, too. But he failed. You _all_ failed. I killed him, and I defeated your men. ...I could kill them too, in fact. _I could do it with a thought._ "

'What. Do. You. Want.'

"I want this to be over," she answered quietly. "You tried; you failed. Your man is dead, but he's the only one I cared about. I'm not going to press charges; the rest of your men will probably walk. In return, you're going to forget about me. You leave me alone, I leave you alone.

"Or, you can come after me. Try to get revenge, or another ransom. Then you can face my family...my friends...probably half the KOF circuit. There will be war, and your organization will never be the same. ...and if you don't get _me_ on your first try? _You might not even have one._

"...so. Do we have a deal?"

Silence.

'Deal.'

"Good," she said, expressionless. "I expect you to follow through on that; I know you VIPs are men of your word. Do I have your word?"

'You do.'

"Alright. Then we're done. ...except for one last thing."

' _What._ '

"...tell me who I am."

'What?'

"Tell. Me. Who. I. Am."

'...you're Athena. Athena Asamiya.'

"Yes," she said, smiling. "Yes, I am."

She hung up the phone, crushed it underfoot, and rejoined her family, back to happy in an instant.

* * *

End Notes

I'm pretty torn about this story. On the one hand, writing it was _very_ cathartic for me. It's kind of an overblown version of how I felt about that "epiphany": shock, despair, recovery, and growth. I wrote this story to make even canon-Athena powerful, and I think I did pretty good. I'm proud of that. On the other hand, it also turned into something ugly, and probably difficult to read. _That_ I regret...but I'm not ashamed of it.

I've developed a philosophy about this stuff, one I've only just recently been able to put into words. In my eyes, no matter _what_ you write, you shouldn't feel ashamed you wrote it. The fact is, stories with content like this are usually just products of overactive imaginations. Granted, for some people they're more like outlets...but that's still all they are - outlets. They don't mean you want to see those things happen, or that you're going to go out and do them yourself. In fact a few people probably write about them _instead of_ going out and doing them themselves.

I am not one of those people.  
But I applaud them for finding an outlet. And I hope they keep it up.

Special thanks to those of you who know you deserve it. I won't name names, to protect the innocent - but you know who you are. ;)

See you next time...!

* * *

Epilogue

Her life was... _mostly_ the same, after that.

She smiled; she laughed. She talked to all the same people. She kept performing, kept competing. The _yakuza_ never came after her. And when the time came, and the world needed her...Athena was ready.

But she never wore a choker again.

She had nightmares occasionally. Bad ones, at first. She avoided news about kidnapping cases, lest she break down or go out and try to solve them herself. She was spooked the few times she saw exposed live wires or downed power lines. And on one of his dumber days, Kensou researched what kind of pain a taser caused, then went out and tried it himself. The next time he saw her he hugged her for thirty minutes straight; from then on his love seemed like outright worship sometimes.

And, every once in a while...when someone annoyed her a little (not a lot), or when she faced truly massive crowds...she found herself thinking, _I could kill this person. I could kill any one of these people. I could do it with a THOUGHT._

...as long as she was in close range, that is.

She didn't think she'd ever need to fix that, of course.  
But if she did? ...well. She could _always_ learn.


End file.
